Friends, Families & Forays: Scenes from the Life and Times of Henry Ford

34. Frischkorn Investment Company

34 Frischkorn Investment Company During the mid-1920s, business was booming in Detroit. Real estate, in particular, was growing in value by leaps and bounds. In the New Center area out Woodward Avenue, a little more than four miles north of Detroit City Hall, the magnificent Fisher Building and General Motors Building were built by the GM crowd. Henry Ford must have taken notice. According to Ernest Liebold, Ford’s general secretary, Ford said, “I want to buy a big tract of land downtown. It’s right down on the corner of Fort Street.” The owner, however, wanted $1 million for it. To that, Ford responded, “I don’t think I want to buy it there anyway. I think I have a better place on Michigan Avenue, right opposite the Michigan Central Depot. You get two solid blocks of land down there.” Liebold said: “I think he thought he was going to do something to either equal or outdo the General Motors Corporation. That may have been in the back of his mind.” The land was to be acquired without the public knowing it was being purchased by Henry Ford. Perhaps the largest Detroit real estate firm at that time was Frischkorn Associated Companies, with their main offices at the corner of West Fort and Wayne Streets in downtown Detroit. The president was E. S. Frischkorn, and the vice president was George M. Frischkorn. Ford was acquainted with George Frischkorn and trusted him. Frischkorn Associated Companies consisted of the Frischkorn Land Company, the Frischkorn Real Estate Company, the Frischkorn Development Company, and the Frischkorn Construction Company. Advertisements described their operations as “Owners of Improved Subdivisions, Developers of Home Communities, Brokers in Improved Properties, Agents in Real Estate Purchase, Managers of Income Properties, Councillors in Realty Investments.” Exclusively to purchase the Michigan Avenue property for Ford, the Frischkorn Investment Company was organized. As the Frischkorns were operating their businesses throughout the Detroit area, the land being purchased for Ford was not an especially conspicuous operation. 256 Published previously in the Dearborn Historian, Vol.39, No. 1,1999. Just why the land was being purchased was never certain. Some thought Frischkorn was buying for the Pennsylvania Railroad to build a giant railroad station opposite the Michigan Central Station. It was also rumored that there was to be a National League baseball park there. Liebold himself had the impression that Ford intended to build a fairly tall building, the first floor to be used for vehicle displays, the next five or six floors to be Ford Motor Company offices, and a multistoried hotel above the offices. Liebold indicated that Ford was willing to spend about $25 million on the project. Beginning in 1927, Ford bought the stock of Frischkorn Investment Company. His first payment amounted to $1,695,516.05. As proof of proper investment of Ford’s money, Frischkorn Investment 257 Detroit’s new and magnificent railroad passenger terminal facing Roosevelt Park on Michigan Avenue. Offices of New York and Michigan Central, Detroit’s major railroads, were also housed in this seventeen-story building. In the 1920s, both business and vacation travelers depended on railroads for transportation from city to city. The interstate highway system as we know it did not exist, and airline passenger service was not yet practical. What better location for Ford’s company headquarters than one directly facing the transportation heart of Detroit? (B.113845) Company furnished Liebold with unsigned deeds covering each piece of Michigan Avenue property purchased. Between 1927 and 1935, Ford advanced a total of $2,497,860.69. The more than fifty pieces of property purchased by Frischkorn Investment Company for Ford were on Michigan Avenue from Vermont to the intersection of Vernor and bounded by Michigan Avenue, 14th Street, Pine Street, and 17th Street. Average cost of Michigan Avenue business frontage at that time was $9.004 per square foot. Liebold was in constant touch with George Frischkorn regarding prices paid for property, sometimes suggesting that a purchase price was too high. Property already purchased was rented. Rental operations were handled by Frischkorn Real Estate Company. In 1931, at 2300 Michigan Avenue, for example, the Abram Cement Tool Company paid $500 per month, while the Detroit Times at 2066 Michigan Avenue was paying only $10 per month, and the Kroger Company at 2108 Michigan Avenue paid $80 per month. Private residences on 15th, 16th, and 17th Streets between 1928 and 1935...